In Emotionally Charged Oklahoma Board of Education Meeting, Parents Demand Answers from Ryan Walters

Cathryn Oakley, Senior Director of Legal Policy at the Human Rights Campaign, offered these remarks in the public comment portion of the meeting on Walters' reckless directive to Oklahoma schools to defy new federal rules, potentially putting hundreds of millions of dollars of federal funding at risk:

"Mr. Walters, yesterday you directed Oklahoma schools to defy federal civil rights law.

I understand that your department may no longer include any attorneys, so please let me explain to you why that is a lawless, discriminatory, and devastating directive. In addition to Oklahoma's constitutional obligations, Oklahoma is required to comply with federal civil rights laws, including Title IX. Last week, after three years of careful consideration and compliance with the Administrative Procedures Act, the US Department of Education issued final regulations, consistent with decades of legal precedent and the United States Supreme Court in Bostock v. Clayton County, ensuring that schools understand that discrimination on the basis of sex includes LGBTQ+ youth.

Mr. Walters, members of the Board, should Oklahoma schools refuse to comply with federal law, the state will certainly be spending a fortune on lawyers, and it puts Oklahoma at risk of losing hundreds of millions of federal dollars in funding. As folks in this room know, less funding for Oklahoma education is the last thing Oklahoma needs.

Understand this: If Oklahoma schools do not comply with federal civil rights laws, it is choosing to invest not in the future of Oklahoma students, but in Ryan Walters's political career at their expense. Ryan Walters, you are failing Oklahoma students. Members of the board - it is time to act. Doing the right thing by LGBTQ+ students is doing the right thing for all Oklahoma students.

Nex Benedict deserved better. Oklahomans deserve better."